The notion of global fashion industry is a product of the modern age.[29] Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom-made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at fixed prices.

Why you should follow: Corsica native and veteran fashion blogger Garance Doré began her blog in 2006 primarily as a place to showcase her skills as a fashion illustrator. Her blog's function quickly turned from showcasing her art and photography to writing about fashion and beauty. This is a great place to discover classic fashion with a French twist.
Aiming to “amplify a greater message of unity, inclusion, diversity, and feminism in a fashion space”, Mara Hoffman invited the founders of the Women's March on Washington to open her show which featured modern silhouettes of utilitarian wear, described by critics as “Made for a modern warrior” and “Clothing for those who still have work to do”.[75] Prabal Gurung debuted his collection of T-shirts featuring slogans such as “The Future is Female”, “We Will Not Be Silenced”, and “Nevertheless She Persisted”, with proceeds going to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Gurung's own charity, “Shikshya Foundation Nepal”.[72] Similarly, The Business of Fashion launched the #TiedTogether movement on Social Media, encouraging member of the industry from editors to models, to wear a white bandana advocating for “unity, solidarity, and inclusiveness during fashion week”.[76]
Internet technology such as online retailers and social media platforms have given way for trends to be identified, marketed and sold immediately.[36] Styles and trends are easily conveyed online to attract the trendsetters. Posts on Instagram or Facebook can easily increase awareness about new trends in fashion, which subsequently may create high demand for specific items or brands,[37] new "buy now button" technology can link these styles with direct sales.
Benefits of primary research is specific information about a fashion brand's consumer is explored. Surveys are helpful tools; questions can be open-ended or closed-ended. A negative factor surveys and interviews present is that the answers can be biased, due to wording in the survey or on face-to-face interactions. Focus groups, about 8 to 12 people, can be beneficial because several points can be addressed in depth. However, there are drawbacks to this tactic, too. With such a small sample size, it is hard to know if the greater public would react the same way as the focus group.[48] Observation can really help a company gain insight on what a consumer truly wants. There is less of a bias because consumers are just performing their daily tasks, not necessarily realizing they are being observed. For example, observing the public by taking street style photos of people, the consumer did not get dressed in the morning knowing that would have their photo taken necessarily. Through observation patterns can be seen, helping trend forecasters know what their target market needs and wants.
Although the fashion industry developed first in Europe and America, as of 2017, it is an international and highly globalized industry, with clothing often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold worldwide. For example, an American fashion company might source fabric in China and have the clothes manufactured in Vietnam, finished in Italy, and shipped to a warehouse in the United States for distribution to retail outlets internationally. The fashion industry has long been one of the largest employers in the United States,[30] and it remains so in the 21st century. However, U.S. employment declined considerably as production increasingly moved overseas, especially to China. Because data on the fashion industry typically are reported for national economies and expressed in terms of the industry's many separate sectors, aggregate figures for world production of textiles and clothing are difficult to obtain. However, by any measure, the clothing industry accounts for a significant share of world economic output.[31] The fashion industry consists of four levels:

I think what is missing in the blogging world is passion for experimenting! For me is not so much a design beautiful, like a mental shock, something crazy that makes you shake. The absurdity is able to move brains. The impudence is capable of stirring mountains. The best way to do something different is expressing your truth, knowing yourself, because everyone is different. One idea: put an artist in your life!: Squeeze all the fruits that have the reach, naked but dressed, and enjoy putting your juice in the network…

This was GREAT content and really helpful. I had already instinctually gone towards a few of the set up things, and the good content idea. Thank you for validating that long posts with good content are good things- I have had many people coach me in the opposite direction. My posts have a lot of content and are long, so I’m glad to hear that I’m not breaking every rule in the book. Thanks for the networking ideas, I had not seen these before.

Moreover, political movement built an impressive relationship with fashion trend. For instance, during Vietnam war, the youth of America made a movement that affected the whole country. In the 1960s, the fashion trend was full of fluorescent colors, prints patterns, bell-bottom jeans, fringed vests, and skirt became a protest outfit of the 1960s. This trend was called Hippie and it is still affecting current fashion trend.[34]

There are many examples of cultural appropriation in fashion. In many instances, designers can be found using aspects of culture inappropriately, in most cases taking traditional clothing from middle eastern, African, and Hispanic culture and adding it to their runway fashion.[91] Some examples are in a 2018 Gucci runway show, white models wore Sikh headdresses, causing a lot of backlash. Victoria’s secret was also under fire for putting traditional native headdresses on their models during a lingerie runway show.

Celebrities like Rihanna, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, and Michelle Obama have been a few of the many fashion idols in the black female community. For men, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, and Ice Cube have also helped define modern day fashion for black men. Today’s fashion scene is not just clothes, but also hair and makeup. Recent trends have included the embracing of natural hair, traditional clothing worn with modern clothing, or traditional patterns used in modern clothing styles. All of these trends come with the long existing and persevering movement of “Black is Beautiful”.

Building brand awareness and credibility is a key implication of good public relations. In some cases, great hype is built about new designers' collections before they are released into the market, due to the immense exposure generated by practitioners.[57] Social media, such as blogs, micro blogs, podcasts, photo and video sharing sites have all become increasingly important to fashion public relations.[58] The interactive nature of these platforms allows practitioners to engage and communicate with the public in real time, and tailor their clients' brand or campaign messages to the target audience. With blogging platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr, Wordpress, and other sharing sites, bloggers have emerged as expert fashion commentators, shaping brands and having a great impact on what is ‘on trend’.[59] Women in the fashion public relations industry such as Sweaty Betty PR founder Roxy Jacenko and Oscar de la Renta's PR girl Erika Bearman, have acquired copious followers on their social media sites, by providing a brand identity and a behind the scenes look into the companies they work for.

^ Park, Jennifer. "Unisex Clothing". Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 382–384. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3427500609&v=2.1&u=fitsuny&it=r&p=GVRL.xlit.artemisfit&sw=w&asid=6f171eb2ab8928b007d0495eb681099c
Celebrities like Rihanna, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, and Michelle Obama have been a few of the many fashion idols in the black female community. For men, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, and Ice Cube have also helped define modern day fashion for black men. Today’s fashion scene is not just clothes, but also hair and makeup. Recent trends have included the embracing of natural hair, traditional clothing worn with modern clothing, or traditional patterns used in modern clothing styles. All of these trends come with the long existing and persevering movement of “Black is Beautiful”.
Kathleen’s blog was created out of the realization that post-grad life wasn’t as fabulous as Carrie Bradshaw had led her to believe (even as adults, we’re still trying to solve the puzzle of how Carrie could afford a closet-full of Manolos on a writer’s salary). But looking at her inspiring outfits and picture-perfect lifestyle, you might have to disagree that it is extremely fabulous (except she pulls it all off with affordable pieces and doable outfit ideas).
Military technology has played an important role in the fashion industry. The camouflage pattern in clothing was developed to help military personnel be less visible to enemy forces. A trend emerged in the 1960s and camouflage fabric was introduced to street wear. The camouflage fabric trend disappeared and resurfaced several times since then. Camouflage started to appear in high fashion by the 1990s.[39] Designers such as Valentino, Dior and Dolce & Gabbana combined camouflage into their runway and ready-to-wear collections.
This was GREAT content and really helpful. I had already instinctually gone towards a few of the set up things, and the good content idea. Thank you for validating that long posts with good content are good things- I have had many people coach me in the opposite direction. My posts have a lot of content and are long, so I’m glad to hear that I’m not breaking every rule in the book. Thanks for the networking ideas, I had not seen these before.
Even though they are often used together, the term fashion differs from clothes and costume, where the first describes the material and technical garment, whereas the second has been relegated to special senses like fancy-dress or masquerade wear. Fashion instead describes the social and temporal system that "activates" dress as a social signifier in a certain time and context. Philosopher Georgio Agamben connects fashion to the current intensity of the qualitative moment, to the temporal aspect the Greek called kairos, whereas clothes belong to the quantitative, to what the Greek called chronos.[4]